Y4 Curriculum Overviews for Parents
We believe that our bespoke Connected Curriculum fosters children’s curiosity about the world around them and nurtures a love of lifelong learning. It is structured in such a way that immerses children in a topic, allowing them to make connections and meaningful links between subjects and to talk about a topic from different perspectives. Each subject, whilst linked to the others being taught, keeps its own characteristics and the children will frequently behave like historians, geographers or artists.
The half termly overviews clearly show the key elements of our Connected Curriculum, the links between subjects and what children will be learning each half term.
At the heart of each topic is a ‘Core Text’ which is inspired by and linked to the foundation subjects of the National Curriculum. The children study this text in a blended way, using what they have learned in their reading lessons and applying it to their writing. Each new topic starts with a ‘Topic Question’ and all the knowledge, skills and understanding the children acquire along the way will be used to help them answer that question. The ‘Experience’ at the end of a topic is a culmination of all of the things the children have learned. It is at this point that have an opportunity to present their work to different audiences in different ways; an exhibition, a performance, a team project or raising money. ‘Visits and Visitors’ are a big part of our curriculum strengthening understanding as well as making learning memorable. The ‘Golden Reflection’ helps the children develop an international perspective and an awareness of what is happening across the world as well as developing individual qualities and dispositions which we believe the children need to be successful citizens. ‘Vocabulary’ helps children to think and learn about the world. Learning the subject specific words on the overview and using them when talking, will allow children to communicate their thinking and understanding more effectively. ‘How to help at home’; home and school are a partnership, taking an interest in your child’s learning can make a big difference to how well they do. So we have given a few ideas about how you can help at home, you’ll probably have lots more.